Back To The Wine

Finally, Tina can get back to exploring wine. Nine short months ago, she had to stop drinking wine. The surgeon general says pregnant women should not drink any alcohol. The research shows "moderate" consumption does not impact on a fetus, but the exact line isn't clear, and she wasn't about to experiment with our baby. So other than a few sips from some some of my better glasses, our exploration of wine has been pretty one-sided for a while.

Unfortuntely, Baby Vinacular did not get the correct time table, and was trying to hold out for an extra couple of weeks. So, following the sage advice of the internet, I offered to bring home a bottle so Tina could have a glass and hopefully induce labor. Directed by her to bring home a Zinfandel, I stumbled across something familiar: a California Zinfandel with a duck on the label, going by the name of "Decoy." Sure enough, it was the table wine label from Duckhorn. More pocketbook friendly than their high-end wines, its being a Duckhorn still gave me confidence in the quality of the product.

We were pleased with the choice. The wine was a little tight when first opened, but blossomed quickly with some ripe red fruit flavors, giving us a vibrant, juicy wine to enjoy. We finished our glasses then set the bottle aside. Little did we know that the next night would see us in the hospital, and we wouldn't be able to get back to it for several days. Imagine our suprise when we returned home with our new baby, and decided that we'd give the remainder of the bottle a go. The ripe fruit had grown even further, into a deep, almost jammy flavor. It isn't really ecommended to let a wine sit for that long, but we are glad it turned out like it did. It held up much better than expected to the aging process after 6 days.

With the new addition to our family safe and sound at home, we are looking forward to getting back to tryig new wines together. And for our first bottle, it was nice to be reminded of the fun learning experiences we can share.